Best CB pairing

11101 said:
Still haven't changed my opinion too much.

Bailly has the most ability but he is rash.
Rojo is good but wild, and he has the right mentality.
Smalling is decent at most things but lacks awareness and confidence on the ball.
Lindelof is composed on the ball but the game is moving too fast for him at the moment.
Jones is good but not quite good enough in any area.

Bailly and Lindelof have the most potential if they can form a partnership but neither can impose themselves on a game yet.

Smalling is our most reliable but his style of only playing what's directly in front of him makes it hard for his partner.

I think a back 3 of Bailly Smalling and Rojo might be worth a try. They're all strong defenders, two of them are good on the ball, and Smalling in the middle separates the two hotheads.
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This is a good summary IMO. And I’m sceptical about the idea most here (and possibly Mourinho) adhere to, that it would be much different anytime soon if we bought Alderweireld and Maguire.

And I’m sceptical to the other idea that most here (including Mou) adhere to, that it’s best to swap the five/six around based on form and other tactics.

I think the only combinations with the potential of being good enough in the end, is Lindelöf/Bailly or Lindelöf/Smalling. None of the other couplings are likely to improve much given more time.

Lindelöf has the brains to accomodate Bailly and Smalling, who both are to brainless to play together. Lindelöf is too insecure and raw to do that consistently yet. Even if given half a season of consistent game time, there will come a blunder that gets people (and Mou) up in arms again.

I think our main problem is that Mou is too much like the typical United supporter - too impatient with errors.
 
I think Bailey and Smalling will work well personally. Bailey is rash but I don't think he's consistently like that. Hel work on it.
 
Tuanzebe and Fosu Mensah... but we'll never know!

Can't be any worse than what we've seen the last few games. Now that De Gea is having a bad spell (saved just 6 of the last 19 shots taken at him!) the frailties of our defence are evident to all. So frustrating of José to let these two young lads go.
 
Really disappointed with Lindelof against Spurs, should've cost us a goal with that dreadful back pass to De Gea and completely misjudged a corner from which Kane should've scored you can say lack of confidence but he's not ready at the moment.

Smalling was shown up in a big way by Lucas for the 3rd goal. Even trying to lunge in and missing man leaving an easy 1v1. He's still our best defender. He and Bailly are probably the best we have and have shown they are capable of solid performances. We sorely needed Toby to come in as most of us knew, he was colossal against us and it's a huge boost to Spurs having him back starting.
 
Smalling +1, which has been the case for about 5 years, in spite of his constant detractors.
 
Bailly Smalling and Lindelöf. For the love of money just keep them at the back too. I don’t care how many mistakes they make, they will get it right eventually.
 
Mainoldo said:
Bailly Smalling and Lindelöf. For the love of money just keep them at the back too. I don’t care how many mistakes they make, they will get it right eventually.
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This!

But if we play 3 at the back then I'm not sure Matic is needed as he drops way too deep at times
 
Mainoldo said:
Bailly Smalling and Lindelöf. For the love of money just keep them at the back too. I don’t care how many mistakes they make, they will get it right eventually.
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None of them can play on the left of a three, all horrific there.
 
The Irish Connection said:
Bailly and Rojo. They were very good together for a while when both were fit.
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The issue with this partnership is they both have a tendency to be like a bull in a china shop.

They were good though last season until Rojo got injured. When he returned he gave a penalty away at Watford IIRC and Bailly got injured again.
 
Smalling plus somebody. Preferably a leader, but if it isn't then not Jones or Rojo. Lets get a proper right back as well.
 
I think we have no choice but to try Matic back there, probably beside Smalling.

Jones, Lindelof and Bailly are damaged goods now unfortunately, for use in emergencies only.
 
I think the main problem is not having a settled back four or at least CB pairing. All these players have had good seasons or spells with us, Smalling, Jones, Rojo, Bailly, but then there's always an injury or brainfart resulting in rotation or desperate solutions like Carrick or Herrera.

That being said, none of them are world class. Haven't had that since Rio and Vidic really.

Best pairing for me would be Bailly and Smalling atm.
 
Smalling +1 other, possibly Rojo

Both are probably the best at actual defending but don’t really contribute to recycling the ball efficiently.

I think we can all agree that lindelof is shite?
 
Smalling + 1 (blind was probably the best +1)
Lindelof just doesn't look very good. Regularly makes fairly basic mistakes - letting players past him too easily, messing up offside traps, just being badly positioned. Doesn't look very good in the air, doesn't look particularly inclined to get into wrestling matches (which you probably need in the PL). He looks tidy enough on the ball is one thing in his favour but he looks out of his depth.
Jones looks like he's in his 40's. He doesn't run anymore and every time he does you realise why - he gets injured. Just doesn't look that comfortable moving around these days and he's relied too much on good recovery in his career, which he no longer has, to get away with some fairly regular mistakes. I really cant imagine him still playing in 5 years. Harsh but its hard to talk about him without being harsh.
Bailly probably needs to be taken out of the firing line after Brighton for a couple of weeks. He looked so confident when he started so it was kind of weird to see him looking so lacking in that match. Was a full blown meltdown anyway, hopefully a one off. He has good qualities but a fair bit to work on too, doesn't deal very well with crosses and I'm pretty sure im not imagining him giving away a few penalties. Hes young and he needs better direction from a more senior defender imo.
Rojo ... probably should get punished far more often than he does, which you have to expect is going to catch up with him sooner or later. I kind of like him tbh, hes a bit brainless and rash ... and dirty. But i think hes mostly performed well at cb (lb hes strangely terrible at). He'd probably be ok with a better cb, like Bailly. Fitness is becoming an issue.
Everyone knows Smallings weaknesses now but him being a very, very good defender sometimes gets overlooked a bit maybe? If teams give him 10 / 15 yards of space he really needs to find ways to punish them. I dont care how mediocre he is with the ball, with that kind of space even he should be able to make use of it. The vast majority of teams we play dont press up enough to take advantage of him being rubbish on the ball so being able to defend just makes him a better choice than all the others. And hes one of the very few players in our squad who react well to adversity. He doesn't completely fall to pieces when something goes wrong.
 
westmeath said:
I think we have no choice but to try Matic back there, probably beside Smalling.

Jones, Lindelof and Bailly are damaged goods now unfortunately, for use in emergencies only.
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We cant afford to play our most important midfielder in defence I'm afraid.

Matic needs to play midfield, cos he's a midfielder. Simple.

Remember Carrick playing CB? It does not work.

We will never know our best pairing cos Jose changes it every week. Why 2 or 3 of our current lot of CB's weren't sold seasons ago is beyond me!

Personally, whatever 2 we play will be weak. We lack any leadership in midfield also.

Logically, and to make the overall balance more stable I'd switch to a 3 at the back.

I'd go:
DDG
Lindelof>Smalling>Bailly
Valencia/Young Shaw
Matic
Fred Pogba
Rashford
Lukaku
 
ToToMarshall said:
Maybe not right now, but in my mind, for the most balance of back-threes, he can only play on the right. If we want to play a back-three, Rojo has to play, everybody else is crap on that left-hand side. Smalling's not good enough on the ball to play in the centre of a three. You could play Smalling on the right and move Bailly to the middle, but then I worry about Bailly and Rojo next to eachother. My main issue with playing Smalling, is that yes he might be in better nick than them right now, I think the back-three I suggested at the very least has the most potential to grow.
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Smalling ALWAYS plays in the centre when we play a back three. I guess the idea is that we spread the passing and 'playmaking' duties to the outside two, while Smalling sits in the middle and focuses on the defensive side of things, covering for his partners when they go forward, controlling the offside trap, etc.
 
Smalling is a proper DEFENDER. He would be a proper DEFENDER even if SUSAN BOYLE was his defensive partner.
 
No need to have a centre back pairing:

-----------------De Gea

----------Bailly Lindelof Smalling
Valencia----------------------------Shaw

------------------Matic
-------------Fred------Pogba

----------Lukaku-------Sanchez

^Our best XI right now IMO
 
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I'm really not sure who our best CB pairing is, but what I do know is that Mourinho should just make his pick and stick with it. There is too much rotation for such an important position. Pick our first team and stick with it so they can gel together. Our CB pairing rotates so much that nobody gets used to playing with one another. Sure, injuries happen but when players aren't injured, they should be starting. Make the choice Jose...
 
There isn't one at the moment. It is a case of Smalling +1 and trying to figure out quickly who that one is.

Jones and Rojo are too injury prone to be considered IMO. Both have been injured for roughly 50% of their time playing at Manchester United. If we'd have managed to get that centreback signing over the Summer, I guarantee one of the would've been let go. They had that one spell together of around 10-12 games if I remember correctly where they looked good, but that is literally it. They haven't impressed me at any other point in their United career and if they can only be available statistically half of the time, what's the point? I am amazed at how many people think these guys are good players. They're decent at best and can't stay fit. We must get rid.

Bailly & Lindelof are taking time to adapt. Both wish to play on the right side, so maybe it's best if we put Smalling on the left and give one of these two a run in the side. I was actually hoping they'd manage to work as a pair, but we're not in a position where we can give them the time to do that. At the moment, I'd try to go with Bailly + Smalling and stick with it. Lindelof is supposed to be the ball-playing centreback we've been after, but he has absolutely no composure on the ball, so playing him alongside Smalling at the moment isn't going to work out very well. Smalling is experienced enough and good enough at defending that we can keep him in the side even if things don't go as well as we wish. I'd hope Jose just picks Bailly & Smalling consistently now even if there are wobbles. A stable back four has to be found and I think this is the option right now:

Valencia Bailly Smalling Shaw​

Nothing else we can do is better than that.
 
Well it was supposed to be Bailly and Lindelof at this point surely? I've never rated Smalling, and the fact he is seemingly the undisputed best CB we have just now says it all about the lack of progress from these two.

Personally right now I'd like to see Smalling & Rojo (when fit) to steady the ship, just because you know what you are going to get.
 
Smalling's preferred partner is Lindelof apparently. One of our ex-player pundits, can't remember who, maybe Gary Neville, asked him which of our centre backs he likes playing alongside most and he said Lindelof, which surprised him a bit. It makes sense though, in terms of having opposite playing styles to balance each other out.
 
We'd never have had Dolly and Daisy, or Rio and Vida if SAF used the Mourinho model that if you have one poor game you're out of the side, possibly the squad.

SAF would destroy you in front of your teammates if you made a blooper, as would most Managers, but then he'd build you back up again telling you why he signed you, and/or wants you in his team and what he expects, yet Mourinho just leaves nobody in any doubt that he can't trust you and will only select you again if he has no alternative.

Pick two, back your own judgment, and stick with it, simples
 
Class of 63 said:
There's a 50/50 chance he'd be the best passer of the ball of the two of them as well.
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Yes I agree. Smalling gets unfairly criticised for not being a good passer of the ball but he is our most reliable central defender. We can see why Jose wanted someone else as the others have shown significant deficiencies.

I still think that Baillie is probably the best of the rest but after Brighton he really needs to demonstrate his ability to come back from an awful display. Rojo needs to cut out his rash challenges and play with his brain and not his heart.

As for Lindelof, time will tell if he is up to the Premier league rigours.
 
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Bailly and Smalling for me.


Bailly has the tools to be an absolute monster in a few years, so it's worth giving him a lot of game time. You could maybe make an argument for Rojo over Smalling given that he's not as error prone and is a lot better on the ball I guess. I definitely think Smalling is the better defender on his day and he has shown in the past that he is capable of a sustained period of genuinely great from, which is more than any of our other CBs can say.

Jones shouldn't still be at the club. Lindelof is not ready and maybe never will be.
 
Smalling and Bailly. It's not even close.
It's not perfect, of course, but none of our options are perfect. We have 5 x senior CBs who have al major flaws.
 
I'd stick Smalling and Bailly together for a the matches and see how they do. Both are our most natural defenders.
 
Maybe play Smalldini with Lindelon for a few games and see how they develop? Had a good game today and first clean sheet of the season.
 
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